The Discursive Framing of the Climate and Health Polycrisis in English, French, and Spanish

The climate and health polycrisis represents a complex network of cross-cultural, multidisciplinary, and interdiscursive interdependencies threatening the future of life on Earth. This chapter investigates the complexities underpinning this polycrisis by means of an analysis of its discursive framing. Through a corpus-based contrastive analysis of the use of the words health, santé, and salud in climate-themed and health-themed public-oriented research communication in English, French, and Spanish, three recurrent framing activities are identified. These include (1) defining and contextualising the polycrisis, (2) representing cause and effect, and (3) proposing solutions. These framing activities were interrogated to identify variations in the cultural and epistemological construction of knowledge of the climate and health polycrisis. The findings highlight the crucial role of cultural and linguistic diversity in shaping responses to global crises and call for pluriversal approaches to knowledge production that address the complex challenges posed by global polycrises.